Manuscript Editing for Music & Letters Journal Articles
Music & Letters has served musical scholarship for over a century as a critical forum for discussion and debate. It covers music from antiquity to the present, across classical, popular, and world musics. Oxford University Press publishes it quarterly.
Articles have no strict word limit; published articles generally run about 8,000 to 15,000 words. Citations follow the Music & Letters style guide in footnotes, full at first reference and then by surname and short title, with no ibid. or op. cit. Spelling is British with -ize endings, quotation marks are single, and pitch follows Helmholtz notation. An abstract of about 150 words goes with the first submission. Music examples go in separate files. Review is double-anonymized, in two stages. Off the Grid Editing applies the house style and checks each example reference against your prose. Submissions go through ScholarOne.
Our Promise
We will ensure that the final draft you receive is completely ready to submit to Music & Letters. We work with you until it is ready or refund your payment in full. That commitment has held since 2002.
Our editors do not have access to your manuscript until an order is placed. Your draft is secure until you decide to proceed.
Manuscript Editing and Proofreading for Music & Letters
We offer three levels of manuscript editing depending on what your manuscript needs. Each is described below so you can choose the service that fits where your draft is right now.
Grammar and usage, awkward phrasing, repetition, and passive voice corrected, then clarity, concision, sentence structure, transitions, and tone, with your style manual applied throughout and a final proofread. For authors whose argument and structure are settled.
Clarity, emphasis, and paragraph structure: topic sentences, transitions, and sentences reordered within a paragraph, with every fact and claim kept as you wrote it. Includes copy editing and a final proofread.
Spelling, punctuation, typos, capitalization, grammar, and usage corrected with minimal wording changes, for manuscripts that have been edited and need a last check before submission to Music & Letters.
OUP's general instructions cover length, footnotes, and music examples. If you have reviewer comments from an earlier submission, send them with your manuscript and we will address each one. If you have questions about which service is right for your manuscript, contact us directly. We respond to every inquiry the same day during business hours.
Our journal article and essay editing page explains how we edit music scholarship, and academic proofreading is the final pass. If English is your second language, see English language editing for researchers. For books, see Oxford University Press manuscript editing. We also prepare articles for the Journal of the American Musicological Society and Music Theory Spectrum.
Instant Manuscript Editing Invoice
Ready to prepare your manuscript for Music & Letters? Use our secure portal to generate an immediate, word-count-based quote and secure your delivery deadline.
Our editors do not have access to your manuscript until an order is placed.
Direct Support
Reach our editorial team directly to discuss your manuscript, your Music & Letters submission timeline, or which service is right for your project. Initial consultations of up to 15 minutes are complimentary.
608-535-6324
editors@offthegridediting.com